Smith,+Zadie

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//Zadie Smith // Get the inside scoop on her writing process! "Smith says she spends 80 percent of her efforts on the first 50 or 60 pages of a book � and the rest comes "pretty quickly." She says she does that to get the tone � the perspective � the way she wants it (NPR)."

media type="file" key="20091111_atc_19.mp3" width="240" height="20" Zadie Smith didn't always want to be a novelist. In her younger days, she studied tap dancing and even made money singing in a jazz band. She also wanted to become an actress, and has written lovingly about her idol Katharine Hepburn. In 2003, Smith published an essay in tribute to Hepburn, detailing her teenage obsession with Hollywood movie stars such as Hepburn, Jimmy Stewart, Humphrey Bogart and Spencer Tracy (Leddy, Chuck).

Zadie Smith's brothers, British rap artists Short Biography of Zadie Smith by Amanda Carrick Zadie Smith published her first novel, //White Teeth//, at age 24 in the year 2000. This book soon ended up on the bestseller lists of Britain and the United States. Critics hailed her as the “important new voice of a multicultural generation (Leddy).” She is originally from London, England, and studied literature at Cambridge University. Her mother is a Jamaican immigrant and her father is a white Englishman, which probably explains where her cultural understanding comes from. Both //White Teeth// and //On Beauty//, include the marriage of a black woman and white Englishman. After publishing her second novel, //The Autograph Man//, in 2002 Smith moved to the United States to teach at Harvard University and used those experiences to write //On Beauty//. It was published in 2004 and was short-listed for the Booker Prize. In 2004, she married Nick Laird, a British poet. They met while they were students at Cambridge University and Smith dedicated //On Beauty// to him. Smith continued to write but moved from novels to short stories and essays, publishing a collection of essays called //Changing My Mind// in 2009. That same year her daughter Katherine was born. She began working as the professor of fiction at New York University in 2010. She continues to explore as a writer, but doesn’t plan on any new novels at the moment. Smith believes that she must feel the need to write a novel to see it through, and right now she doesn’t feel that.
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 * Doc Brown (Ben) || Luc Skyz (Luke) ||

For A Prezi about Zadie, click here: About Zadie Smith `“What is past is prologue.” In her novel //White Teeth//, Zadie Smith illustrates the changing culture of Britain in the 70s and 80s through her characters’ struggles to hold onto the past and striving to be part of the future. ...see more --> || ==** Readers' Responses **== "On the surface, I was taken aback by some of the language and references used; therefore, it greatly lowered my expectations for the rest of the book. I had heard that it was considered witty and humorous, it may be that I don’t understand British humor, but after reading it I see it as crude and somewhat melancholy. I felt all of this early in my reading, so to continue I had to block it out and focus on Smith’s purpose behind it." -Amanda Carrick  ...see more --> ||
 * ~ [[image:grovesaplit2/white-teeth.jpg width="324" height="495"]] || == **Literary Criticism** ==
 * To see episodes of the television series based //on White// //Teeth//, click here!

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||  || === Extra! === "Smith herself interviewed American rap singer Eminem for Vibe magazine in 2002. Smith described the Detroit rapper as "sweet, lovely and shy," while he confessed to being a huge fan of Smith's novel White Teeth (Leddy, Chuck)." ||

Critics praised Zadie Smith on her first work, //White Teeth//, and Smith has pulled off another culturally apt novel; “a modern-day tale in which the complexities that encompass the combination of race, class, faith, and personal politics take center stage” (Reynolds). //On Beauty// weaves a “garrulous account of two contrasting, haplessly interconnected families in an urban setting teeming with ethnic, racial, and economic diversity” (Rich). Instead of taking place in Smith’s hometown of London, the setting is Boston and the fictional college town of Wellington. It is clear from the setting that Smith’s experiences at Cambridge may have been used to fuel this novel. ...see more -->
 * [[image:grovesaplit2/onbeauty.jpg width="354" height="537"]] || ==** Literary Criticism **==

Emma Salter's Review Summary: [[file:On Beauty Review Summary.doc]]
|| ==** Readers' Responses **==

Well, this novel was certainly much better than //White Teeth //! The plot was less confusing, only involving two families, but with just as many characters. Like //White Teeth //, //On Beauty // involved common themes like friendships/relationships, interracial marriage, and social class. This book had a much more pointed and meaningful feel to it. The three young adult children of the Belsey’s were relatable and realistic, and the drama running between the two families was entertaining. There were a couple twists that had me groaning out loud. The book took an objective look at the opposing views of the families, allowing the reader to see that Howard and Monty were equally ridiculous and that the children were really the only ones who could see past the cultural barriers to what really mattered. --Amanda Carrick || Zadie Smith's husband Nick Laird. ||  || Amanda Carrick--Works Cited (page 2 of doc.)--
 * media type="youtube" key="NdZcnvLCVec" height="259" width="355" || Dedicated to...
 * [[image:The_Autograph_Man.jpg]] || ===To find out more about autograph authentication, Click Here===

Emma Salter's Critical Analysis: [[file:The Autograph Man Critical Analysis.doc]]
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